CH 6

Zel had life by it's philosophical balls with how he was handling it. Some nights, he even had dreams where life moved on from when it was before he slept and certain scenarios that happened would also happen in real life. The sole reason the things there don't happen exactly as they did were because the choices he had selected were different, resulting in unknown outcomes.

This power ultimately delivered him into this certain walk, to this certain bar with this particular friend. All of this have in fact happened before in his dreams, and if it were to be trusted again, then something meaningful would happen later this evening...

"Sorry to break the party mood but you really should watch out for that Professor Sandra. Ever since that time when she called you out for being on your phone in class and you solved that hard problem she assigned you, that bitch has been relentless. You should at least report her for harassment with the way she has been pushing it lately. She even calls you every time she asks a question, though now she has been doing it harder every meeting too without barely concealing the fact that she is doing it."

Karl possesses a knack for talking with exaggerated hand movements and even more expressive facial expressions. His brief talk has even garnered the attention of a few juvenile girls who couldn't help but laugh at how seriously he has been taking the whole thing.

"Don't worry about her man, I sure don't."

With the dreams to advise him, he has already expended the pitiful amount of attention he had given her in the first place. Turns out she had been doing this not only to him, but most of her other classes too. With many people reporting her for harassment and so many witnesses to testify, it would be a miracle if she could even keep her teaching license after all this.

'It should take a few days from now.'

The students should have already reported her so that failure of a professor would have no job by the end of the week. The only reason he continues to act this way is because the more she tries giving him shit, the better he would feel by the end of it.

"Good friends deserve equally good rewards. I've been having a good roll lately so why don't I treat you today?" Zel's favorite thing to do was to surprise his friends with arbitrary indulgence that come out of nowhere. The genuine feeling of joy he could see from their faces make spending a little money really not worth mentioning.

Zel's walking speed sped up as he passed by his friend and lightly punched his arm. Karl seemingly didn't suffer the slight pain as his thoughts wondered from the words "treat you" and equating that to the words 'unlimited drinks'. Before he laughed though, a fierce look could be seen from his eyes when he saw that Zel sped up his walk.

"NO TAKEBACKS! A BRO'S WORD IS SACRED!" Karl then tossed back his head in satisfaction after he had uttered those words. He looked towards Zel who possessed a dumbfounded look on his face that bordered on confusion until it warped into a face that was seemingly trying to restrain his laughter to himself.

" Pfft. " Zel tried to hide the laugh that would seem to have been triggered by the rather childish actions of his dear friend.

"Hmph, I knew you would take it back but since I've already declared it, you have to do it." Karl was about to throw a punch to his arm but he hurriedly dodged before he even launched it and outstretched his hands in surrender.

"Fine, fine, you got me." Zel raised his hands in resignation seeing the guy was nodding to himself the whole time. The two walked for a little more than 3 more minutes and finally reached their destination.

The Crate Bar has been here for the last 55 years. Even his civil engineering seniors have took to this place to hangout and let loose. But this time, Zel had come here for the chance to meet someone special.

"Hey dude, there's a table over there." Karl was caught up in his own thoughts and when he saw the free table, he couldn't even bother to look at Zel who was anxiously waiting for something. It was only when he didn't hear his friend walk over that he turned back and saw the guy looked towards the entrance of the bar.

By the time they were nearing the seats, the doors to the bar opened and two girls came in.

"You want to talk to them?" Karl was giving Zel a taunting face, Zel was never someone who talks to girls. Heck, even Isabel was rejected when she asked him out. But that didn't seem to be the drill today when he heard his next words.

"Give me a minute. I'll be there with you in a moment."

The two girls seemed to be looking around, seemingly not familiar with the place. The girl leading the two wore the female counterpart of Lateneo's uniform. While the standard uniform would be the white blouse with the insignia of Lateneo on the left breast and a red skirt that went just below the knees, this girl actually had on a knee high socks that complemented her long legs just above her black shoes.

'She was always proud of her long legs.'

Her long black hair was done into a ponytail that rested on her left shoulder. It was something of a habit for her to place it there because whenever she got bored, she would play with it like a painter would use a brush. Her skin was a healthy light brown but she had makeup on that covered her cheeks and her lips were a deep red from the lipstick she wore though they were actually pretty red even without the lipstick.

Zel felt compelled to stare at her, maybe because of the familiarity that she had on him that took it took him a while to realize she had also been looking at him. Her friend was also looking at him while whispering something to her and they both giggled.

Her friend was not wearing the same uniform, having a white blouse that is topped by a red vest with black pants paired with black shoes. Her face would show she was someone young, probably not even old enough to drink, but since she wore the uniform for the University of Cavila which was a college institution, she was actually at least 18.

She was only visiting her best friend who chose to stay in their hometown for her university. This visit to the bar was the first for both of them so everything would be new for both of them.

Zel just took that as a sign that they were interested, at least he hoped so. Taking his head to a zone that made it easier for him to leave bad thoughts behind, he put on the most "Kind big brother" smile he could. He had already tested this smile over the mirror a hundred times that he was confident it would get the message through.

"Hey, do you remember me?" Zel went in for the introduction to which the two girls got flustered for. While the girl was only watching his face the whole time and not responding, her friend felt that she was taking too long and her elbow actually lightly hit her at the side.

"Oh, ah, I don't really go to places like this so I probably don't?" Emilia gave Zel a polite smile. She tilted her head in confusion which only made Zel find her cuter.

"Has it been that long? Come on Emilia. It's me!"

Not having expected him to know her name, Emilia was taken aback. It was her friend's turn to tease her because of the unexpected recognition.

"So you've been holding out on me huh? When did you two meet?" Tina used her elbow to chide the rather confused Emilia. Her friend had always been one of those people with few friends and even fewer boyfriends. There was exactly 0 times she had a close friendship with a boy let alone a boyfriend. The only boy who got somewhat close was that chubby kid from middle school.

"No way! You forgot about me too, Tina?"

"Huh?" Now it was Tina's turn to be confused. Since when did she know this hunk? She stared hard at his face to find even a little familiarity, but no one came to mind. She to Emilia for a reprieve but turns out she was even more confused than she was.

"Come on then, tell us who you are! I swear that if you are some stalker then don't think we won't just leave." Feeling weirded out by the fact that she really didn't recognize Zel, Tina had a suspicion that he might be dangerous and quickly thought up something that would make him reveal his mysterious self.

"It's me Zel! Zel Huertazuela? We hung out a lot in middle school, St. Legaspi? You two were inseparable back then, I guess you stayed friends long after that huh?"

Something clicked as they placed the idea of the Zel back then and superimposed it into the man in front of them. His eyes were the same color, the lips seem to be more red? But the body is...

"Oh my god! Zel? That chubby kid you used to like Emilia?" Tina was so surprised that the random information regarding Zel that she just remembered blurted out.

"Kyaaa" Emilia was so surprised she had to look around Zel so that she could look at the back of his left arm.

"Look! There's the scar for when he fell from the swing!"

"Oh my god! It really is him."

Tina tried to scrub out the scar, but it looked more like she was rubbing a statue with how hard she was trying.

"Hahaha, so you still remember that?" Zel was glad that he was finally remembered but he couldn't help but scratch the back of his head in indignation.

"How could we not! You flew a few meters in the air and even hurt your arm so bad that your arm was in a sling for a month!"

Zel rubbed the back of his head while trying to shoo away the embarrassing moment that was suddenly brought up. He was more concerned with the fact that Emilia had actually liked him back then? How could he change the conversation back to that?

'Damn that swing story!' Zel kept the smile he had and just tried to laugh it off and it worked swimmingly as he saw his charms were keeping them occupied and he went in for the kill!

"I'm actually with a friend right now, with classes being suspended tomorrow, we wanted to have some drinks to relax. Why don't you two join us? First round is on me" Zel was using the fact that they seemed to remember him and his newfound charms to entice them to have a few drinks and hopefully, connect.

'Gosh, why does it feel like I'm luring kids into a van?'

"Really? Then I'm coming! Let's go Emilia."

"Oh, yeah. Umm, sure."

Zel lead them to their seats while winking at Karl who was dumbstruck with his friend's smoothness. Zel saw that Karl was giving him a thumbs up while nodding nonchalantly like he was making it so that the two girls wouldn't notice.

'He just went in, talked with strangers then I saw them laugh. He got embarrassed so I thought he failed. But now he actually got both of them with him?' Karl had a dumbstruck look as he watched. Then he realized they were on the way to this table and took a pose that said 'chill'. But his mind was far from chill.

'MASTER! I have to ask him to teach me later.'

"So this is my good friend Karl Rance, Karl these two are Emilia Halsey and Tina. My friends from middle school."

Karl was still had a rather dumbfounded look on his face and his smile was too strange to call friendly, but since his youthful face made him not look creepy, the two girls didn't let it stand out.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Karl." Karl stretched his hand over for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Emilia."

"Yeah, and I'm Tina. Hey! How come you introduced Emilia with her last name while I just get 'Tina'? You're being biased Zel!"

While Emilia was shaking Karl's hand, Tina was glaring at Zel who seemed to be giving her friend a special treatment. She found it unfair when he only met the two of them again today.

"Hehe, I really just forgot your surname ok?" Zel tried to placate the girl but it seemed she had a strong personality. Just like she did before.

"Then how come you know her's?" Tina was not having it though. She needed a reason at least.

"How could I forget?" Then Zel looked at Emilia who was now feeling flustered at the attention as all three of them were actually looking at her now.

"She was my crush too, after all." Zel gave Emilia a wink that the rest of the group saw.

"Oh! Master stop! She's already finished!" Karl was now seeing the Zel who's known as the 'Ice King' try and be the 'Smooth King'. He couldn't help but cheer his friend on.

"Oh my god! Look Emilia's blushing!" Tina, however, was not to be outdone. She looked at her blushing friend and wouldn't let that be left unnoticed.

Zel took control and gave his intentions right from the start. The thing with relationships is that when you want to give a message, you can't be too encrypted with it. That's how mistakes and misunderstandings happen so you got to set it straight right from the start.

However, Zel could do it because he was Zel. Had it been someone else, these people would just probably cringe from the weirdness and the atmosphere wouldn't be as lively.

They started drinking when Zel ordered the first batch of drinks. Turns out the first 'round' he offered wasn't just a single beer each but rather two buckets that had five beers each. A 'Hooray' sounded out from the two while Emilia was still trying to adapt to the rather forward Zel. Though she didn't seem to disagree with it from the way her body wasn't trying to stay clear from him. Zel knew he shouldn't push it and just tried to slowly reconnect and receive another chance to meet again.

"Hey, you two take care on your way back ok?" Zel was using both hands to hold his phone. He had just gotten Emilia's number and was anxious to try it out. He also got Tina's too.

"You guys take care too!" The girls waved their hands goodbye while Emilia gave Zel a gentle smile. To which Zel just replied with another wink. This caused Emilia turn back with a slightly odd walking pattern.

"Bye Tina. Bye Emilia." Karl was late to the salutations because of his clouded head. He got a little too drunk earlier.

"Yeah, bye Karl. Thank you for the drinks Zel."

"Oh yeah, thanks for the drinks Zel."

The girls turned around one last time to thank Zel who merely offered them a amiable smile.

"Haha, Master has been kind today."

"Shut it Karl! Who's your master?"

The girls watched as Karl tried to give Zel less credit but Zel was not about to take that lying down.

" Pfft. " The two girls rode a taxi home since it would be dangerous for them to walk home at their tipsy state while Karl and Zel walked home.

"I never would have thought that you were fat when you were a kid, Zel! The Zel I know is the guy with the abs and biceps that could rip his shirt in half!" Karl was back at it with the hand movements and the new added bonus of flexing as he tried opening up a conversation with Zel.

"Yeah, life was different back then for me. My family was shit. My habits were pretty unhealthy too actually." Zel felt a strange melancholy when he tried thinking back to his life before he had started having dreams. What would his life be if he didn't possess them? Would he even still be alive?

'I'd have probably committed suicide just so I could end it all.' The Zel from back then even had the notion that his death might just be the catalyst that would fix his parent's broken marriage. His thoughts swirled around to a dangerous space, and he forgot to reply to Karl who was now feeling down when he felt the atmosphere change.

"Hey, sorry if I said something wrong. You ok, dude?" Thinking that Zel might bear a grudge to what he said earlier, Karl was trying to mend that problem.

"Oh, yeah. Just thought about something. Your place is that way, right? Let's split up at the next street. I want to buy some hangover medicine before heading home."

"Oh, sure."

Zel and Karl split ways after fist bumping and Zel thought deeper and deeper about how his life was essentially him playing the most proper route possible because he had literally lived through all the possibilities.

'Which one was more significant? Am I dreaming right now too?'

Drunk and alone, he wandered the streets while trying to get home. It was when he was just a few minutes away that he felt an odd sensation and hurriedly leaped to the side without even looking at where he was heading to.

" Beep! Beep! " A passing truck completely ran over the place he was just in a few seconds ago and Zel felt his drunkenness level practically bottom out.

'What the hell!'

"Hey man, are you ok? That was seriously dangerous right now? I'm sorry, but you were walking on the middle of the street and the street lights were off in this street." The man was checking up on Zel's body but examined no visual injury. He couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking. Please slow down next time, some people might not be as lucky."

"For sure yeah, are you sure you're fine? Maybe I could take you to a doctor or something and get you checked up?"

"I'm fine really, it's alright."

After a few more assurances that Zel was fine and that he wouldn't press any charges since he himself was walking on the wrong part of the street. Still, Zel was more surprised by the fact that this had never happened to him in his dreams.

'I always died of old age or a disease, never an accident. What just happened?'

Zel contemplated after he arrived home, not daring to lose attention while walking outside again. He went on towards the familiar couch that he had taken from his last apartment. The same couch he had his first dream on, and the one that he would lay on if ever he wanted to dream 'long' again and went to sleep. Who would have known that this one was actually the start of his troubles.